Serendipigoat

What are the odds?
In Georgia last month, I visited some relatives and searched through photos for ancestors. I came across this instead.

A pint-sized Valentine!

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Updated:
Ang mentioned in comments that heart patterns on livestock aren't completely uncommon. So I did a little searching and found these online:
British piglet, also named Valentine, beyond cute.
Japanese chihuahua, named Heart-kun, exceedingly adorable.
Cat and another cat (not quite as well-defined, still charming).
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Updated again:
Check out Northview Diary's cow, Mandy, who has a cute little white heart on her side.

Another view

Some time ago I made a relatively lengthy post on this blog detailing some of the reasons why cycling is such an integral part of my life. Yesterday I was reading an excellent post from Jill in Alaska on a similar theme. Her post mentions something that I had overlooked -- the fact that I find myself relatively reluctant to talk about my riding to people who don't ride.
The simple fact is, I've come to the realisation that people who don't ride on a regular basis just won't understand. That's not intended as a vitriolic or condescending comment, it's just a fact of life. If I try to explain to someone that I'm planning to ride over 300km on Saturday night, or that I rode hundreds of kilometres last weekend in temperatures up to 40 degrees C, or that I crossed about five mountains in the process, it's fairly obvious what sort of reaction I'm going to get. Indeed, I've even noticed this from a lot of other cyclists here on the Gold Coast where the overriding cycling philosophy seems to be "only in certain designated areas".
So I just ride, and don't bother explaining it to anyone, save the two or three regular readers I have here. For me riding is also an escape, an escape from an increasingly plastic world in which everyone is masquerading as whatever they feel as though "should be" in order to be popular (and expects me to do the same). A world in which so many things are over rated just so that they can be sold. When I ride I can just be myself for a while, without having to worry about everyone else's vain pretences.
It also provides stability in a world in which everything seems to be in a state of flux. People coming into your life and leaving all the time -- often I don't even bother trying to stay in touch anymore as it just seems like delaying the inevitable. The very world around me is constantly changing. Even on my rides this is noticeable -- dirt roads are being paved everywhere, suburbia is expanding, the hippie mudbrick cottages in the hinterland being replaced by charmless Mcmansions.
In such a world, it's the basic act of riding that never changes, the feeling is as great as it always was, and this provides some stability, some certainty in a time when everything else seems fleeting. The combination of elation and exhaustion at completing a century that crossed three mountain passes, or reaching that campsite on a tour after being belted with 90km/h winds and driving rain. It's this that keeps me going, and this that I can only get through riding a lot. It's this, or the promise of this, that keeps me going through everything else. It's this that makes me look forward to my next ride, my next escape.

The Son of a Preacher Man

A short while ago I visited Bag Enderby Church, just a ten minute drive away from where we live. You can find that posthere. At the same time we visitedSomersby which is about half a mile further on, as this is where Alfred Lord Tennyson was born. I was interested to learn a few more details about the early life of the poet, Tennyson.




Alfred's grandfather was a highly ambitious and social-climbing solicitor. He owned two houses - one of these was Tealby Lodge (later called Bayons Manor) in Tealby. The house is now in ruins, having been blown up in 1964 - deliberately blown up as it was in a state of decay - but I found this print online ...

Delusions of grandeur

The grandfather had two sons, the elder was Alfred Tennyson's father, George. In the normal scheme of things George would have been made heir, but both parents favoured the younger son, Charles. This had a terrible affect on him for the rest of his life and as an adult Georgewas prone to depression, alcoholism, forgetfulness, foul language, and violence; not an easy person to be around.

Front of the Rectory

George was more or less forced by his father to take Holy Orders, even though he felt no calling. He was ordained deacon in 1801 and priest 18 months later. He married Elizabeth Fytche, the very beautiful daughter of the vicar of St James' Church in Louth - she was reputed to have already turned down 25 proposals of marriage!




His parishes were Great Grimsby, Benniworth, Bag Enderby, and Somersby, where they lived in the Rectory.




Alfred was born on August 6th, 1809, the fourth of twelve children. All but the first child, a boy, survived. The boys all grew tall and good looking and the girls were renowned for their beauty.

Alfred Lord Tennyson, The back of the Rectory at Somersby,
The Church at Somersby (I couldn't get it all in one photo because of a yew tree!)

Borrowed image of Schoolhouse Lane, Louth

Young Alfred went to Louth Grammar School when he was seven. He was bullied by the older boys and also by the Masters. The Headmaster was notorious for his frequent and heavy use of the birch. Alfred hated the school but endured four years there. Eventually his education was continued at home by his father. Years later when he visited Louth he would never walk down Schoolhouse Lane!




Alfred had a reputation for being very strong and is reputed to have amused guests of the household by carrying a Shetland pony around the rectory lawn. Once, he was sitting next to an open window in his bedroom and answered the hoot of an owl so realistically that the bird flew in. It became very tame and would sit by him while he wrote, rubbing its beak against his face.




I can imagine that it must have been a very lively and noisy household, presided over by his mother, Elizabeth. She produced a baby almost every year - which must have been exhausting in itself! Factor in the moods and depression of her sometimes hostile and violent husband and her life was not an easy one. During the 1820's George suffered breakdowns and life became very difficult for them all. One of Alfred's brothers became an alcoholic and an opium addict, another was put into an asylum. During one violent quarrel George threatened to kill his oldest son. He took to keeping a knife and a loaded gun at the rectory openly threatening to use them on him.




This is the interior of Somersby church, including the font where Tennyson was baptised. It is a small attractive church, which still has its 15 foot high, 15th century churchyard cross. Amazingly the Roundheads gave it a miss during their tour of destruction. I much preferred the little church at Bag Enderby, just half a mile away across a couple of fields. Young Alfred would definitely have spent much time in and around both of them.




Alfred's father died in 1831, his health and his mental well-being had deteriorated over the years and he succumbed to typhus. Neither his father, nor his brother Charles, attended his funeral in Somersby. The grandfather provided a reasonable allowance for the family to enable them to continue living in the Rectory. Alfred and two of his brothers had to leave Cambridge University as their grandfather refused to fund them. He tried to push Alfred into being ordained, but he was having none of it.




He was born for other things!




Alfred Lord Tennyson was the most popular poet of the Victorian era and was made Poet Laureate at the insistence of Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert. It is recorded that one year he earned £10,000 from his poetry - a fortune in those days.




He died in 1892 and is buried in Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey.

Wilderness Advanced First Aid....check!

Alec eating lunch, single-handedly.

Alec just returned from a four-day Wilderness Advanced First Aid class, offered by Rutabagaand attended by 20 paddling instructors, guides and other people who work in outdoor recreation, particularly with kids.
This is follow-up course to the basic two-day Wilderness First Aid course many of us take to meet the requirement for maintaining certification as an American Canoe Association instructor. It can also be used as a recertification for Wilderness First Responders, of whom there were eight in this course, or as the first step toward becoming a Wilderness First Responder (the next being the four-day Bridge course).
Like other training and certification programs we've undergone, each of these first aid courses raises participants' level of skill and scope of practice (or remit). Wilderness First Aid teaches basic skills for diagnosing and treating maladies we might encounter; Wilderness Advanced First Aid provides more depth and breadth for people with a higher level of responsibility for groups of people on longer trips into more remote areas.

Wilderness Medical Associates lead instructor Sawyer Alberi places a tornaquet on assistant instructor John Browning.

The course teachespatient assessment, a system that guides the process of diagnosing and making decisions about treating people who are ill or injured. It also teaches CPR, interventions (treatments), and procedures for stabilizing and evacuating patients. There are some classroom lectures and discussions, but the emphasis is onlearning through experience by means of carefully designed scenarios.

Mary, stabilized and ready fora helicopter evacuation after a mountaineering incident.

Trainings like these cost money and take time, but they're well worth it. The knowledge we gain helps us prevent some incidents and handle others if they arise. We hope to do more of the former and less of the latter.

What To Do, What To Do?

I tasted my first kumquat last month at the B&B in St. Mary's, GA.  It's going to be an acquired taste for me, although it wasn't an unpleasant experience. 
The hostess/owner had picked them off a tree in her backyard.  I asked her how you eat them not knowing whether to peel or not.  The skin looks like an orange peel.
She said you just pop them in your mouth and start chewing.  I tentatively did so and found them not unpleasant.  It's just strange to eat a citrus rind.
Yesterday at Laurel's house, she had a bowl full of them.  She had gotten them at a local grocery store, so I went and bought three packs.
Now, the question is...what am I going to make with them?  I was thinking maybe marmalade?  I love orange marmalade and don't see why you can't make marmalade from kumquats.  
Laurel and I are meeting in about an hour to pick strawberries.  I wonder if you can mix kumquats and strawberries?  Any ideas out there?
P.S.  The bottle behind the bowl is one I got when we were staying in England for a week.  It's called 'Washing Up Liquid' and is used for washing dishes.  I keep it on my laundry room sink and use it for any clothes that need handwashing.  I love how the British call things by different names!

Happy Birthday One-Year Old!

Hi! I had a most pawesome first barkday and I so wanna woof about it! It all started with a great romp in the muck - woo hoo!

We had to put on HATS that we were not so WILD about, but because of the yumzers ice cream and cool huge doggeh cookie, it was okay!!! Here's a li'l slideshow of my pawesome day!

We wants to say huge thank yous to Sierra Rose's Mom for sending over some of her super photos that I used in the slideshow. I had a most wonderful day and wanna wish my awesome siblings, Ronan, Thistle, Jamie, Levi and Chelsea a Happy First Barkday!

The Purging Continues...

This is my husband's office. I only took photos of MY side of the room. His is just as bad. So last Friday night he declares, "I'm going to Bass Pro tomorrow to buy a gun safe, and when I get back, I want all your stuff out of my office."
When I come up against anything unpleasant I don't want to do, I remember these words from Psalm 55: "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness."
I could really use some 'wilderness' time right now what with the babies being born, lessons that need planning, rooms getting painted, grandchildren being kept, etc.
So...that gave me about three hours (see paragragh 1). Fortunately, both daughter-in-laws could help, so we attacked it and did a fine job of tossing out, keeping, and Goodwilling. The rest of this stuff are things I no longer want but are valuable; things I don't want to thrift.
I've already called two of my younger friends over and let them have a scrounge around. I need to call a few more. I said younger friends, because when you're my age you're usually looking to get rid of what you've accumulated over the last quarter century or more.
After the aforementioned gun cabinet was safely in place, I boxed up all the things I'm keeping to regift and quietly slid them back into the office.He's not happy about it, but it's only for a short while.
Kitchen redo is in progess. Pics coming soon.

Electric Sky

Well, I am still without my camera (going on two weeks now), but it is in transit and should be here in 3 more days. I have also been busy preparing for my upcoming photo exhibition at the Johnson Heritage Post in Grand Marais, MN. Those two factors mean that I essentially have not had any new photos to post from the last two weeks. So, here is one from 2006 that I would like to share. This was a lightning storm that hit in the middle of the night and woke me up from a deep sleep. I actually shot this photo from my open bedroom window. The storm and the lightning were VERY close, so I didn't want to risk going outside. As it turns out, the best lightning was happening directly over my driveway which was perfectly visible from my upper-level bedroom window. I opened the window, popped the screen out and set up my tripod. For the next half-hour I had a blast capturing photos of the lightning. This is not the "best" shot of the night, but it is a favorite. I will have a print of the "best" shot on display at my upcoming show. Be sure to check it out, the show runs from August 17th to September 8th!

Happy Anniversary!

Twenty years ago today we moved into our little blue cottage. It was, and still is, my dream house. There's very little I would change if given the chance.
When we first moved to Georgia thirty years ago, we found a typically southern two-story with white columns out front and two wings on either side. It really wasn't ME, but I wasn't sure at the time what ME was. The colors inside were all wrong. The woman who built the house was a redhead, so she chose earth tones in brown, orange, and gold. I changed the wallpaper in a few rooms but didn't want to rip out the tile floor in the kitchen and dining room. Too expensive.
So I lived with it and started looking for an old house with some acreage. I was homeschooling four children at the time. Actually three; Dylan was two but definitely a force to be reckoned with. He's the reason I gave up homeschooling for a time, but that's another story for another day!
So after we finished schooling, I would pile all my little children into my Ford F-150 pickup and drive through the country looking for abandoned houses. We were able to go into quite a few where I would take pictures of ceilings, mouldings, staircases, etc. I was collecting ideas.
There were plenty of old, abandoned houses around. Some were for sale, but they didn't come with any land. Most would have to be moved. My husband wasn't on board with that. We didn't have any land to put one on anyway.
In fact, my husband didn't want to live in an old house. He had grown up in one and knew the kind of upkeep required and didn't want to fool with it. Sigh...
I eventually found a piece of land that had a mature pecan grove on it, some woods, and an open field. Only thing lacking was a pond. I figured three out of four wasn't bad. Husband was brought out to look at it and actually liked it! We bought the forty acres, but it didn't come with a mule. It did come with an outhouse, pig sty, and barn. Unfortunately we had to tear down all three due to termite damage. I really wanted to keep that outhouse!
I started looking at house plans. Since I couldn't have a REAL old house, I wanted my new house to look old. I also started collecting antique bathroom and light fixtures. A man who tore down old houses gave me some beadboard for the walls. I paid $200 for the upstairs flooring being torn out of an old house in the middle of town. It was heart pine and enough to do most of the upstairs.
There are dozens of stories that could be told, but you'll have to wait for the book. This is getting too long, but a few more things need to be told.
I couldn't find exactly the house plan I wanted and was getting frantic when the strangest thing happened. I had been to Tennessee to visit my parents and had stopped in Macon to see a friend. We had a good visit and before leaving I made a trip to the powder room. There in a basket on the floor was a Country Living magazine with the perfect house on the front. I yelled, "That's it!" It was their House of the Year for 198? I can't remember the exact year. I asked if I could have the magazine, she said yes, and as soon as I got home I ordered the house plans.
I spent many nights sitting up into the wee hours of the morning drawing out the rooms on graph paper and changing the plans until they were perfect for our family. We started building in January of 1990 and moved in on July 9.
Happy 20th anniverary little blue cottage! I love you!

Oscar

The cat who's trying to adopt us.
I should say, the wild tomcat who's trying to adopt us.
The wary cat who won't let us near him, but who will handle all the food we might happen to leave lying around.
The wily cat who really needs to go to the vet but can't (so far) be caught.
Fresh from a recent Odd Couple viewing, Hubby named him Oscar.

Eagles at Manawa

John (ham radio, cycling, photography friend) had been over at Lake Manawa State Park to shoot photos of the eagles. My visits to Bosque del Apache and talking with birder friend Tom, I planned to bring the camera bag with me Sunday morning.

Sunday John brought a print we took at coffee. After coffee, I headed to Manawa to find the eagle. John had seen them in the area of Boy Scout Island and E. Manawa Drive.

I started on the West side where I visited with Tom. No eagles. Next stop was Boy Scout Island. A few geese, and some large birds further into the lake. Took a couple photos but was getting discouraged.

Looked there were a group of folks stopping along the East side of the lake. Drove there and parked along the road as there were several large birds flying in the area.

I forgot how difficult it is to fallow birds in flight and keep the lens in focus. Auto focus was having a fit. Switched to manual focus (which I am not accustomed to - like how to move rings to focus vs zoom). Was able to a get a couple "in flight" photos.

One immature bald eagle decided to perch on a branch right over my car. Gave me some time to fine tune the focus. Here's the best of the photos I took.

Tennessee Neighbors

This fair lady is the neighbor of my parents in Tennessee. Last time I visited, she gave me a huge cabbage from her garden. When I got home, I sliced, blanched, and froze it. I'll make cabbage stew this winter.
I've taken photos of her barn in all seasons. I want to do a watercolor of it soon.
When I was a small girl, I'd visit her parents with my grandma. Two smells I associate with their house and yard; tobacco (one of both of them dipped) and boxwoods. They had these huge ones on either side of their walkway you'd have to pass through to get to their front door. Today when I smell a boxwood, it makes me swoon. I guess that's one of the reasons I love Williamsburg so much. There are hundreds of boxwoods there. I'm going to order two English boxwoods for containers. They are the ones that have the wonderful smell. I'm not so sure they'll flourish down here with our humidity, but I won't know unless I try.

Grocery shopping on a bike: An exercise in practicality

Earlier this week, my fitness/commuter goal for April was put to the test by general necessity.
My cupboards were bare, my fridge nearly empty and the only things left to eat around my apartment were ranch dressing, pancake syrup and leftover Buffalo Wild Wings food from Lord knows when.
It was time to go grocery shopping. However, since my biking/running totals are still catching up to my driving mileage for April, I had to figure out a way to pad my mileage. Beyond that, gas prices have been going up like crazy lately and unfortunately, my modest salary is not matching that rate of inflation.
So with that in mind, I put my car keys away, grabbed a backpack and did my grocery shopping on a bike. My shopping included stops at Cub Foods, Kwik Trip and Aldi.
Surprisingly, it wasn't as difficult as one would think. I essentially bought all the groceries I would have gotten with a car, only I took two trips. The method I used for packing the groceries included my backpack and dangling a pair of grocery bags from my handlebars (first photo on the right).
The most difficult aspects of it were figuring out how to make everything fit and keeping myself balanced for the bike ride home. The only real trial and error came from determining that the weight of items in the grocery bags on the handlebars had to be relatively light, otherwise steering would get awkward (I initially tried this with a gallon of milk in one bag, bad idea).
I will touch on the experience more in a column I wrote for Monday's paper, but for the time being, here is a list of groceries I was able to carry home on each trip, with photos accompanying each list. As you can probably guess, the second trip was a lot tougher to package and carry than the first.
First trip (Cub Foods and Kwik Trip)

• 2 bags of hashbrowns
• 1 pound of grapes
• 2 pounds of bananas
• 4 boxes of cereal
• 1 gallon of milk
• 1/2 gallon of orange juice
• 2 bags of pizza crust mix
• 1 dozen eggs

Second trip (Aldi)

• 1 bag of apples
• 2 jars of peanut butter
• 1 jar of jelly
• 4 cups of yogurt
• 1 package of breakfast sausage patties
• 1 box of pancake mix
• 3 boxes of rice
• 1 box of banana bread mix
• 1 package of chocolate chips
• 1 container of bread crumbs
• 1 package of tortilla shells
• 2 jars of spaghetti sauce
• 2 pounds of shredded cheese
• 1 package of dried fruit
• 1 package of baby carrots
• 1 box of mashed potato mix
• 1 6-pack of bagels
• 1 package of pepperoni
  
• 1 box of cereal

(Note: this isn't intended to depict me as a hulking figure of grocery getting ability. Rather, it is meant to illustrate how much a person can actually carry on a bike if they organize it correctly. Also, I realize my eating habits probably seem a little odd, but I happen to like cereal ... a lot.)

Edinburgh Christmas bustle

The pre-Christmas 'bustle' at Here and There Slocan inspired me to post a similar shot of Edinburgh's 'Main Street' today. To get an exact comparison I had to stand in the middle of the road - not an easy thing to do in the middle of the day on Princes Street.
Many people are still at work, so it wasn't too frantic out on the streets. Marks and Spencer's food hall however was living up to its pre-Christmas reputation, so I was glad to escape to the relative tranquility of the lingerie department, from where I knew I would get a bird's eye view of the street.

Ozzie is Recovering Courageously!

Oz has been home now for three days. And. She has amazed us by her rapid adjustment to being a tri-pawed kitty. She has not had a super appetite, but we've tried to offer her faves; fresh shrimp, which she's munched on daintily and her Fancy Feast fave, which she's eating here. For the first time today, she tried to escape from our bedroom, where she's been held captive. We're stunned by her continued improvement.
After she ate a bite or two, she headed for Sam's giant bed to relax a bit. She hates her meds (of course), but they help her sleep and keep the infections away. We stopped by the Humane Society today to say thanks to those involved in finding her and to re-license the pups. There were at least five individuals who were interested in what happened to her. We learned little more about what happened to Ozzie, except that instead of that nutty woman keeping her for two days, Oz was apparently held hostage for four days. All the days she was missing. I guess we can thank Dog that she was inside on those cold nights. For those who are squeamish, you may not want to look at the next photo, which shows Ozzie's amputation and stitches. She is in great spirits! We are so encouraged by her courage and backbone! What a winner!

Beautiful GABE Pressie and Some Other Adventures!

It has been a bit nutsy around here, and I apologize for my mom's rudeness in making me so AWOL with my pals - I finally pawed her to take some dictation today. Here we go!We won! We won! Silvie (check out her blog here), a cheerful and happy Bichon, sent us a wonderful pressie! Here I am inspecting it carefully, as I wanted to make sure it wasn't another new puppy. It didn't smell like one; in fact, it smelled very sweet!

Here I am, snootering it a little bit more...

And some more!
As Silvie said on her GABE post, I'd have a huge void in my life without a Bichon candle.
And you know what? She was right. It's guarding Ma's and Pa's pix of my Splash doggin'! Thank you a ton, Silvie! What an adorable candle!
Look who showed up for our next adventure??? I was so jazzed! Here's a little photoshow of our walk with Sierra, her mom, Eric (who is the all-time greatest doggeh caretaker in the world) and his two charges, Smudge and Prius (the hybrid hee hee)!

Another beautiful day on the Bay and a pretty park that had asphalt, so my sister could come too. Nothing beats a swim out to my kong on a rope! Yeahhhhh!


A little movie of my sister walking. She's been doing a lot of practicing - that's not bad, Avalon!

Woodchucks at Grand Portage State Park

At work this week we've noticed some new little critters running around near the visitor center... a family of woodchucks! They are living under the boardwalk and in the bushes next to the visitor center. Throughout the day they venture out to chew on the grasses and dandelions in the yard.

Every now and then one of the young ones takes off running down the paved trail, much to the delight of the park visitors. They look so funny when they are running full speed! And, they are much quicker than I thought. I never realized they could run so fast.

We have recently had construction work begin on the site for our new visitor center, so there is a lot more noise than there usually would be, what with chainsaws running and dump trucks and loaders coming and going. The noise doesn't seem to bother these guys, though, as they are pretty active all day long. If you happen to visit the park, keep an eye out for them as you walk past the visitor center!